


A snack for the road

by SweetBeet123



Series: Lil stories [6]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Character Turned Into a Ghost, Emotional Hurt, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Reminiscing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:35:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29828484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetBeet123/pseuds/SweetBeet123
Summary: Technoblade comes home and finds the child he hates most rummaging through his chests for gapples again, as if nothing had ever changed.But Tommy is looking really weird, and his behaviour is off, too. Something clearly isn't right, and Techno is about to find out what
Series: Lil stories [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2166150
Comments: 5
Kudos: 146





	A snack for the road

Techno put the collar of his cloak up against the cold winter air that blew permanently through the snow biome. You’d think he’d be used to the cold by now, but the wind felt like a razor sharp blade that sliced through his thick skin. It also didn’t help he just stepped out of the nether. Going from a literal land of fire to freezing temperatures wasn’t exactly comfortable.

That’s why he was happy to see the smoke rising from the chimney of his home. He knew there was warmth waiting for him inside. He’d see his foxes again, and of course Steve. Techno never cared that Steve was a polar bear. The creature was warm and pleasant, and as long as Techno didn’t hit him, Steve made for a great roommate. He could never truly replace Edward, but he filled up the space in the best way possible.

As he opened the door, he was immediately greeted by the warmth of the fireplace that was coming from upstairs. With a sigh of relief, he took off his cloak and hung it over the rack next to the door. As he made his way over to one of his chests to grab himself some food, he heard some rustling.

At first, he paid no mind to it. It was probably just his villagers downstairs. No, wait, it was coming from upstairs. Steve? No, the sound was way too light for a polar bear. Techno quickly stepped up to the ladder and made his way up.

The very second his head reached the next floor, he felt anger rising in his chest. He recognised the familiar red and white shirt from a mile away. And he definitely knew those scrawny little hands rummaging through his chests.

“What the hell are you doing here!” he exclaimed, already prepared to pull out his sword right then and there.  
“Oh, hey Techno.”

Immediately, Techno froze in place. He swallowed all insults that were ready to roll off his tongue. He almost wondered if the person in front of him was really who he thought he was. But as the person turned around, Techno knew for sure. Tommy.

But this wasn’t Tommy as Techno remembered him. He couldn’t pinpoint it exactly, but there was something off about the boy. Maybe it was just his smile, which was just soft, without any mischief behind it.

“What are you doing here?” Techno repeated, a bit quieter now. Tommy smiled softly and held up a single golden apple.  
“Just getting a snack for the road,” he spoke. Techno was taken aback by the voice. It missed its snap, its bite. It wasn’t taunting like it usually was when Tommy took his golden apples. It wasn’t stubborn or filled with spite. It was just… calm.

“Where are you heading?” Techno asked, leaning against a furnace. Something was off about this whole situation. Maybe Tommy was trying to trick him. But Techno knew he wasn’t ever going to trust Tommy again. That little raccoon didn’t deserve it.

“Oh, I don’t really know yet,” Tommy answered Techno’s question. “Far, I reckon. I’m not sure why I came here. I just wanted to say goodbye, I guess.” He looked at the golden apple in his hand, examining it as if he didn’t know why he was holding it in the first place. “Can I have this?”

“We’ve got steak,” Techno said. _We_. There was no ‘we’ anymore, why did he even say it?  
“Classic Technoblade,” Tommy smiled, putting the golden apple back in the chest. “You were never one to give, weren’t you?”

“I gave you everything!” Techno snapped, starting to get annoyed. “Without me you would still be stranded in Logstedshire, without a cent to your name! I could’ve stabbed you whenever you stole another stack of gapples, or pearls, or whatever, but I didn’t!” By now he was full-on yelling.   
“And do you want to know why? Because I actually cared about you! Because I thought that maybe, after all that time, we could’ve been friends! Do you even know how hard it is for me to trust someone?”

“Classic Technoblade,” Tommy simply smiled again. “Always one step ahead in the argument, always so clever with words. You’re so convinced I betrayed you, and yet I am here. Why do you think that is?”

Again with the pure calm in his voice. No anger, no cockiness, just facts. Techno had sometimes imagined what it would be like, a quiet Tommy, thinking it would be nice if the boy wasn’t always yelling. But now he realised it wasn’t all that nice. No, it was almost as annoying as the loudmouth child.

“Why. Are you here.” Techno’s words were short and blunt, filled with weeks of repressed rage. “Why would you come back here? Why are you so quiet? I swear, if this is just a ploy-“  
He walked over to his chests and opened all of them one by one. “How much did you steal,” he mumbled to himself.

“I don’t know, why am I here?” Tommy asked quietly. “Aren’t you the one who always has the answer? Big, strong, Technoblade?”

“CAN YOU PLEASE JUST YELL AT ME?”

An awkward silence filled the room as Techno slammed the last chest shut. He had looked over his shoulder, his fire-filled eyes meeting with soft grey ones. Wait, where was the blue? Tommy had bright blue eyes, everybody knew that.

“It’s alright,” Tommy smiled again. “You don’t know yet. But I’m here, stealing your gapples.” He glances at the chest. “Is that really all you remember me by? Being loud and stealing your stuff?”

“Wait, what do you mean ‘remember me by’?” Techno asked. Tommy didn’t answer, he just kept on having that slight smile that meant everything and nothing at all. “What do you mean?” Techno asked again.

There was a knocking at the door. Techno’s head shot towards it, then back at Tommy. That same smile. He looked back at the door and started walking towards it. He glanced back one more time…

Tommy was gone. Where the boy had just stood a moment ago was now just an empty space. As if he were never there. Techno opened his front door, and saw his tall neighbour standing on his porch.

“Hey Ranboo, w-what’s up?” Techno asked, trying to hide his confusion.  
“Can I come inside?” Ranboo asked. His voice was soft too, like he was on the verge of crying.  
“Sure, are you okay?” Techno fully opened the door to let the ender hybrid in.

“I know you probably don’t care,” Ranboo started, “since you weren’t friend or whatever, but… I take it you’ve heard Tommy got stuck in prison?” Techno raised an eyebrow at that.  
“No, I didn’t know,” he admitted. “Why was he in prison? I thought Dream was in there.”

“Tommy was just visiting,” Ranboo explained. “But there was an explosion, which counts as a security issue, so he had to stay in there for a week. Stuck in the same cell as Dream. For a whole week. And well, that was a week ago.”  
“Sounds problematic,” Techno shrugged, trying to sound indifferent. “But he got out, right? So now he can go back to being annoying or whatever he’s good at.”

“N-no,” Ranboo uttered. “He didn’t.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“He never got out.”

Techno felt his heart sink as he looked back at the chest, where Tommy had been standing only a minute ago. If he didn’t get out, then…

“He and Dream got in a fight. A pretty nasty fight.”

No…

“Sam told me Tommy begged for his life, but it was too late.”

It couldn’t be…

“He was too late. He’s never coming back, Techno.”

So that Tommy he saw right there… wasn’t Tommy. It was ghostinnit. Phantommy. Whatever name he made up for himself. He was on his way to the afterlife, stopping by one last time before he was gone forever.

“Are you okay?” Ranboo asked. Techno cleared his throat and put on his nonchalant face, as he had done so many times before.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said. “Why would I care? He wasn’t my friend or anything. If anything, this server is better off without that loudmouth child. Yeah… that’s it. You just go… work on your house or something. I’ve got work to do.”  
“Yeah, of course,” Ranboo answered, catching on immediately. He spoke Techno’s language pretty well by now, and he knew better than to push for answers. He turned around and walked off, leaving Techno alone.

Techno slowly closed the front door and wordlessly turned to the chest that was standing in the room. It almost looked menacingly, as if it were taunting him. He walked over to it and lifted the lid, carefully picking up a single golden apple. Small tears pricked at the corner of his eyes as he raised it in the air.

_“Raise a glass to freedom.”_

He was glad Ranboo wasn’t around to hear it. Never ever had he imagined making a Hamilton reference, but it just felt natural. There is no beat, no melody. He couldn’t bring himself to eat the apple, though, and instead grabbed a small item frame and hung it on the wall.

He walked over to his anvil, quickly renaming the gapple. He carefully placed it in the item frame and swallowed harshly as the words lit up.

_Tommy’s gapple._

“Goodbye, old friend,” he spoke, finally letting the word ‘friend’ roll off his tongue. “I promise I’ll never forget you.”


End file.
